Friday, January 16, 2015

DBA... Enter at your own peril!

I've been researching a lot into the world of DBA, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to try it out. It looks relatively inexpensive - beyond miniatures, all you really need is the rulebook, which is only about $20 at the time of writing.
I like downloading wargame rules off the internet and customizing them, as well as making my own rules from scratch, because there's just such a huge ammount of great ideas out there, waiting to be used. But DBA is tried and true, and something with such a huge following can't be a complete dud, can it?
This will be my first officially sanctioned wargame, and it'll be cool. There's a lot of resources out there for new DBA gamers, and I've included a lot of them that I found helpful on my page "Wargame Rules."
If you've never heard of DBA, it's just a fast-play, relatively simple rule system for Ancient and Medieval gaming. There are also versions for fantasy (HoTT) and the Rennaissance (DBR) as well as a version for larger battles (DBMM). The DBA system is compatible with hundreds of ancient and medieval armies for both the 15mm and 25mm scale. (A list of armies can be found here). Figures are based together on 'elements,' and each active army has 12 elements. The types of figures and number of figures you can place on an element, as well as the dimensions of the element, are specified in the rulebook or unofficial guide.
DBA was created in 1989, and since has become a pretty big deal. A lot of people play it, the rules are simple and fast-paced, it's relatively inexpensive, pretty much any ancient or medieval army will do, and the game itself looks good on the table. All these are reasons why I'm going to join the DBA community.
My first army will be Italeri Gauls. I'll need to get some cavalry and chariots at some point, but these guys will get me started.

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